It’s not the first time I’ve seen repeating cards when I write these messages.

Once again, the Nine of Cups has followed us into the week. I love this card. It’s one of my favourite to see in a reading, as it represents so many blessings all at once.

But most of all, it represents simple joy, something we all need and deserve.

This card might at first feel like a strange juxtaposition to the week ahead. On Wednesday, October 31, we welcome Halloween, or Samhain.

And then All Soul’s Day on Thursday, November 1.

While all of Scorpio season is a powerful time to connect with your intuition, ancestors, and magic, these are the dates that are so often discussed as the times when the veils between worlds are at their thinnest.

As Scorpio season helps us to embrace any change in season within our own lives, October 31 and November 1 encourage us to find support, guidance, and remembrance in those who have come before, too.

And so that’s one of the messages I’m taking from the Nine of Cups this week: To allow yourself to lean on those who have come before you.

It’s so easy to forget that so many other lives had to be lived so that we can be here, now. It’s also easy to feel detached, or distant, from our ancestral lineages, especially if it’s not something you know, or were taught to understand.

But Daniel Foor, author of Ancestral Medicine, talks about finding that connection through the land itself. By not focusing on the ancestors who you may have known as extended family, but to think more holistically about all the places your body came from, and the people and stories – a thousand years’ worth – that your body contains.

How might you feel a little more supported, a little richer, a little more connected, if you took some time this week to learn a folktale or myth from part of your distant past?

What if you took a moment to find richness there, and to celebrate it by lighting a candle for those who came before you? Use this light as a way to say thank you, or to sit in meditation and invite some ancient guidance into your life.

October may have felt energetically charged so far, but some of that energy will begin to lift on the 31st, too, whether you choose to have it supported by your ancestors or not.

Mercury leaves Scorpio for Sagittarius at 12:38am EST on October 31, allowing our thoughts to come up for air and eventually take flight with the agile, inspired energy that Sag offers. You might feel optimism, hope, and understanding deepen for you later in the week.

Venus continues its retrograde, slipping back into the sign of Libra later on Wednesday, at 3:42pm EST. This, too, will bring a change in perspective, though relationships continue to be strongly highlighted here.

Expect conversations to begin to circle around what is fair and just within your partnerships. Lovers, friends, and colleagues will all be expected to pick up the slack, so anyone who hasn’t been doing their fair share can expect to be called out on it.

Here’s an intention you can use throughout the week:

“I trust that my ancestors stand behind me, and I open to their guidance.”

And if you’d like to connect with the energies of Samhain or All Soul’s Day, here is a tarot spread to try:

1. What story did my ancestors give to me?2. What lesson do they want me to see now?3. How can I honour my history?4. How can I invite my ancestors to guide me?

LizWorth is a Toronto-based tarot reader, astrologer, and author. She uses tarot and astrology to help people find clarity, guidance, and purpose.

Liz regularly offers workshops and seminars about tarot, astrology, and magic, believing that these are tools everyone can learn and benefit from. In 2017, Toronto Life magazine and She Does the City listed Liz as a go-to reader and tarot teacher. Her horoscopes have appeared in Flare Magazine and Spiral Nature, and her writing has also been published by Biddy Tarot, Little Red Tarot, and the Numinous. She is currently working on a follow-up to her book Going Beyond the Little White Book: A Contemporary Guide to Tarot.

Personal planet Venus started its retrograde period earlier this month, on Friday, October 5. We have a month left of this retrograde, and this can be a good time to check in with yourself to see how it’s affecting you.

For me, astrology, tarot, and other forms of divination all straddle a gray area between prediction and intention. I always encourage people to operate from the latter category as much as possible.

“While the stars impel, they do not compel,” says Rabbi Philip S. Berg in his book on Kabbalistic astrology, The Star Connection. I love this quote because it reminds us that planets don’t make us do anything. They do not think on our behalf. They do not take responsibility for our actions.

We can look at astrology to get a sense of what is possible, and what themes, thoughts, or energies might become more pronounced under certain transits.

But it doesn’t mean that a transit will be the same for everyone – or even be felt by everyone.

We are all living our own stories, and we can choose to tap into the flow of the universe and determine how those external energies may apply to our own personal lives.

I see so many “rules” about what not to do during retrograde periods, as though these things become universal law for all. But I prefer to be practical about it all, rather than having a knee-jerk reaction that only repeats old ideas – or superstitions – about what astrology will do within a given timeframe.

The truth is, no one can say for certain how an astrological event will impact all, or few people. Yes, we can make predictions, but that is all they are – theories and estimations based on what is most probable given the energies of a day, or season.

Some people have laundry list of things to avoid during Venus retrograde: Don’t get a haircut. Don’t get any spa or cosmetic treatments. Don’t buy any new clothes. Don’t get married. Don’t fall in love. Don’t commission any creative work. Don’t change your appearance too drastically. Don’t plan a wedding.

The list can go on. We see the same thing with Mercury retrograde, when people are advised not to sign contracts, travel, or make any major purchases.

But are these rules the best use of astrology? I always say that if it works for you, by all means go for it. But I also say that no one should feel they need to put their lives on hold because of astrology, either. Rules are really just guidelines, and they can be loose ones at that.

Should hairdressers and spas close shop for the 40+ days of Venus retrograde? Are we suggesting that hairstylists, artists, and estheticians suddenly lose all power, skill, training, and ability during that time?

Are we suggesting that each of us doesn’t have jurisdiction over our own hair, appearance, and maintenance?

Should we hide inside all day, say no to every social engagement, and just wait out a retrograde?

Our own thinking, capability, and decision-making can’t, and shouldn’t, go out the window for the sake of astrology. Instead, it’s best to use these times purposefully by paying attention to what seems to matter most now.

It’s also important to remember that many other influences are at work, too, not just astrologically, but within our own personal lives.

I have gotten tattoos during Venus and Mars retrograde and they all turned out just fine, thank you. I am going to two weddings this fall, neither of which I am worried about.

A marriage is not built out of a single event. These people have already made their commitments to each other long before they ever planned their weddings. I would never tell someone to call off a wedding date because of Venus retrograde.

If you are worried about how Venus retrograde, or any retrograde period for that matter, will affect you, you can always remind yourself that we live through retrogrades again and again. Venus retrograde occurs about every 18 months, though last time it was in Aries, which is a different energy than Scorpio.

When I think back to the last two times Venus was retrograde in Scorpio – fall 2002 and 2010 – I had new work opportunities come my way each time. Choices were made, and I got clearer about the paths I wanted to take – just as we see in the choices that are held in the tarot’s Two of Wands.

Previously, I also found myself doing some deep work to move on from older aspects of my personality that I no longer wanted to put forward. I was learning to make new impressions on the world, but first I had to let go of my old ways.

You might feel that you are making similar choices as the days roll on. Or, you might find yourself thinking back to past experiences, too, and finding new connections and points of growth.

This week’s energies indicate new awakenings around what it’s time to shake up, or break up with. I also find that retrograde periods can bear many gifts, if we choose to notice them.

The important thing is that you pay attention to what feels relevant for you right now. Don’t let someone else’s list of do’s and dont’s dictate your own destiny. Astrology can give direction, but you’re the driver.

Until next time,

Liz xo

About Liz Worth

LizWorth is a Toronto-based tarot reader, astrologer, and author. She uses tarot and astrology to help people find clarity, guidance, and purpose.

Liz regularly offers workshops and seminars about tarot, astrology, and magic, believing that these are tools everyone can learn and benefit from. In 2017, Toronto Life magazine and She Does the City listed Liz as a go-to reader and tarot teacher. Her horoscopes have appeared in Flare Magazine and Spiral Nature, and her writing has also been published by Biddy Tarot, Little Red Tarot, and the Numinous. She is currently working on a follow-up to her book Going Beyond the Little White Book: A Contemporary Guide to Tarot.

This New Moon gives us the opportunity for a fresh start within our personal and creative endeavours.

Libra can help to support any intentions for love, friendship, and relationships overall.

The Libra New Moon can be a time to look at what you are ready to invite into your life on an emotional level. Or a time to look at mending any relationships that have drifted, torn, or become worn down.

But with Venus, Libra’s ruler, retrograde until November 16, your intentions around this New Moon may feel a little different than other years.

Venus retrograde asks you to look at how you communicate your desires:

How do you prioritize your emotional health?

And how do the people you are relationship to prioritize your feelings, and their own?

In relationships – whether they are professional or personal ones – you can state your needs and assert your boundaries all day long. But if those boundaries remain unacknowledged, it really doesn’t make a difference what you do to maintain, protect, or grow yourself within that relationship.

Has that ever happened to you? It can be so frustrating, and defeating, to get into broken-record mode with a friend, colleague, or partner. To keep them saying to someone, “I need time for this, not that” and have nothing change.

If you feel like you are speaking a different language with someone right now, trust that the energies of this moment are supporting you in dealing with that relationship.

Of course, this is a time where we each need to pay attention to the signals we are getting from others, as well. Retrogrades have a way of highlighting patterns, so if someone is raising a familiar conversation with you, look for ways to move forward – and use this New Moon to help cut a new path for all involved.

Venus retrograde can be a strong creative time, and that may be another need that is going unmet for you right now.

Why is it so hard to take time for ourselves? Why is there an epidemic of creative projects languishing in notebooks, desktops, and vision boards? Why do so many of us have dreams to create something just for ourselves, and yet we barely manage to get around to it sometimes?

Watch out for past ideas to tug at your sleeves now. Especially with Mercury entering Scorpio tomorrow, Tuesday, October 9 at 8:40pm. Mercury shifts out of airy Libra and nosedives into Scorpio’s ocean for sunken treasure.

What will the messenger planet uncover for you? What brilliant idea is lurking under your surface, waiting to be resuscitated?

Creativity is a relationship like any other, and this next month and counting can be an intensive period of creative recovery. We see that in this week’s card, the Eight of Wands.

Many possibilities can begin to emerge for you now, personally and creatively. Let them loose and see where things land.

While Libra is symbolized by the scales, this is a time to remind ourselves not to get lost in the idea of perfection, or ideals, but in finding a balance within our own harmonies – whatever the mix, or compromise, may be.

If it helps, here is an intention for today’s New Moon in Libra:

“I open to new ways of showing up.”And here is a tarot spread to help you connect with the Libra New Moon:

1. What needs to be honoured in my relationships? 2. What new beginning can I create with those I love? 3. What can I do to be heard?4. What or who do I need to listen to now?

Until next time,

Liz xop.s. Registration is now open for my new online course, Tarot for Self-Recovery and Reclamation. If you want to deepen your tarot practice through ritual, healing, and personal growth, I invite you to learn more: lizworth.com/heal

About Liz Worth

LizWorth is a Toronto-based tarot reader, astrologer, and author. She uses tarot and astrology to help people find clarity, guidance, and purpose.

Liz regularly offers workshops and seminars about tarot, astrology, and magic, believing that these are tools everyone can learn and benefit from. In 2017, Toronto Life magazine and She Does the City listed Liz as a go-to reader and tarot teacher. Her horoscopes have appeared in Flare Magazine and Spiral Nature, and her writing has also been published by Biddy Tarot, Little Red Tarot, and the Numinous. She is currently working on a follow-up to her book Going Beyond the Little White Book: A Contemporary Guide to Tarot.

Venus, the planet of love, art, and beauty, begins its retrograde period this Friday, October 5 at 3:04pm in the sign of Scorpio.

Some say that Venus has trouble getting comfortable in Scorpio. She has to function a little bit differently in the sign of scorpion. Venus wants things to be gentle, easy, and beautiful all the time. But Scorpio takes her underground into deep, powerful places.

Scorpio pushes Venus to look beyond her own exterior and get to the core of her truth, and her potential to transform.

In Scorpio, Venus becomes a goddess of shadows and magic, honesty and power. This retrograde will find all the places where truths are hidden, and where the magic is waiting to happen for us.

This Friday, we can each begin to take a 41-day journey into our own personal depths. Venus highlights love and relationships, needs and desires, beauty and self-esteem, creativity and artistic expression.

What happens to those areas of your life when Venus is retrograde.

Registration is now open for my new online course, Tarot for Self-Recovery and Reclamation.

If you want to deepen your tarot practice through ritual, healing, and personal growth, I invite you to learn more: lizworth.com/heal

Relationships

Some people worry that a transit like this will destroy their relationships, or create some kind of conflict. Beware of the doomsayers. Astrology doesn’t make any promises, only speaks to the possibility of what’s to come, and helps you understand what it’s time to put your focus on.

Relationships cannot dissolve because of what the planets are up to. Relationships dissolve because they are not functioning the way they need to anymore. All people involved in a relationship are also responsible for the direction things take.

But Venus retrograde can be a time to work through any disconnects within a union. From October 5 to November 16, you might become more aware of how certain needs are not being met within a relationship. Or, you might find that you are being asked to offer more to someone else.

With Scorpio in the mix, sexuality will likely be a major aspect to these conversations. Don’t be caught off if sexual incompatibilities become the elephant the (bed)room, or if sexual tensions arise from unexpected encounters.

Trust that whatever surfaces within your relationships at this time, the universe is giving you and those you love a chance to mend, heal, and change what is not working. Use this time to fix the gaps and do the work any relationship requires.

Retrogrades give us second chances. They are a time to get things right, especially if they were missed or ignored the first time around.

Just beware of exes and past love interests that come out of the woodwork over these next few weeks. Many of us tend to be haunted by relationships of years past when Venus retrograde kicks in, and while some of these encounters may feel fated or destined, they might not amount to much. Instead, you could end up with a big reminder as to why those relationships didn’t work out the first time around.

Self-image

Venus retrograde is also a potent time to focus on your relationship with yourself. While some people experience strong self-doubt and struggle with self-image during Venus retrograde, I always encourage you to find ways to work through that, no matter what feelings get stirred up for you.

Remember that retrogrades ask us to focus on the “re” – review, reassess, reflect. I also like to add in reclaim when we are talking about Venus.

Reclaim your sense of self. Reclaim your body. Look at where and how you have been robbed of the pride, contentment, and comfort you could have within the home of your skin and bones and let yourself call it all back.

Define your own presence, appearance, and expression – whatever that may be for you.

Scorpio’s influence at this time can offer a deep container for your own healing.

Creativity

Venus retrograde also helps us to reconnect with old projects, ideas, and creative passions. This can be a great time to keep a dream journal, or revisit old notebooks for sparks of inspiration that you might have forgotten along the way.

If you have a project on the backburner, or got stalled during the summer when Mars and Mercury were retrograde, give yourself some creative space now to reconnect with any lost momentum.

Remember that Venus brings blessings as she moves through the sky. This is not a planet that exists to push your boundaries or knit-pick at your life. Listen to what gets stirred for you at this time, and pay attention to what speaks to you as October wears on.

This retrograde period can be a time of personal change and reflection. Yes, there may be times when you realize you need to let go of something, as we see in the Eight of Cups, but it be a change that allows you to rise higher. To feel more joy, and more comfort in your own skin.

Until next time,

Liz xo

p.s. Registration is now open for my new online course, Tarot for Self-Recovery and Reclamation. If you want to deepen your tarot practice through ritual, healing, and personal growth, I invite you to learn more: lizworth.com/heal

About Liz

LizWorth is a Toronto-based tarot reader, astrologer, and author. She uses tarot and astrology to help people find clarity, guidance, and purpose.

Liz regularly offers workshops and seminars about tarot, astrology, and magic, believing that these are tools everyone can learn and benefit from. In 2017, Toronto Life magazine and She Does the City listed Liz as a go-to reader and tarot teacher. Her horoscopes have appeared in Flare Magazine and Spiral Nature, and her writing has also been published by Biddy Tarot, Little Red Tarot, and the Numinous. She is currently working on a follow-up to her book Going Beyond the Little White Book: A Contemporary Guide to Tarot.